"You like Fairphone?" Fairphone announces "Fairphone Easy," which is a monthly subscription smartphone.

[ebprince the computer nerd]

Summary

Fairphone has announced something called "Fairphone Easy," which is the Fairphone 4, but only €21 per month. You can rent it for 3 to 60 months. It is only available to customers in the Netherlands, but in they plan to expand into more of Europe in 2023.

 

Quotes

Quote

Sustainable smartphone manufacturer Fairphone has announced a new subscription service that offers its latest phone, the Fairphone 4, for as little as €21 a month. Fairphone Easy is only available for customers in the company’s home market of the Netherlands for now, who’ll be able to rent the phone for anywhere between 3 and 60 months, but Fairphone spokesperson Ioiana Luncheon says the service could be expanded to more countries in Europe in 2023 depending on the results of this initial pilot.

 

My thoughts

I really love what Fairphone does. They make good enough smartphones for a good price, eco-friendly, and are near completely repairable. With this monthly subscription though, it's kind of dumb. You pay for 60 months, €1,260. You pay for 3 years, €756. The maxxed out Fairphone 4, (which is what the Easy is) is only €649! And you keep that one for ever. Yeah you get a case and screen protector included, but those are only like €20. I would still buy it without the subscription and in the long term, it'll be better value.

 

Sources

the verge

[RONOTHAN##]

So Fairphone is selling a phone without all the selling points of a Fairphone? This makes basically no sense. It's a phone that's designed to be able to be fixed and kept around for 5+ years, if you're gonna lease a phone for ~2 years, who really cares if it gets broken? It's not like you were gonna keep it around for that much longer anyway. And if you're gonna lease a phone, you can get something a bit higher end like a Pixel 6 or Galaxy S22 for about the same price per month instead. 

 

This seems like a program that will go the way of the dodo after about a year. It just makes no sense.

[Roswell]

20 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

if you're gonna lease a phone for ~2 years, who really cares if it gets broken?

You will, because it's a lease and you're on the hook for the price of the phone if you turn it in broken.

[HenrySalayne]

27 minutes ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

really love what Fairphone does. They make good enough smartphones for a good price, eco-friendly, and are near completely repairable. With this monthly subscription though, it's kind of dumb. You pay for 60 months, €1,260. You pay for 3 years, €756. The maxxed out Fairphone 4, (which is what the Easy is) is only €649! And you keep that one for ever. Yeah you get a case and screen protector included, but those are only like €20. I would still buy it without the subscription and in the long term, it'll be better value.

No. It's 996€ for 5 years and 684€ for 3 years. The monthly fee of 21€ drops to 19€ after the first year, 17€ after the second year and 13€ after the third year.

But that is still more expensive than outright buying the phone. I would assume that they wanted to get a fast RoI on their investment (production) and also make the phone more appealing to people without the disposable income to spend 650€ at once on a phone. IMHO that is the economically correct and rational decision for a company of this size (it's not a billion dollar company). We know better deals from other companies, but they have the cash flying around to not risk their business.

 

[Doobeedoo]

I'd like to see them make flagship like phone though. Like flagship SoC with decent cam and display. 

Or also hoping to see others catch up with update support.

[TetraSky]

Usually, leases are not more expensive than buying it outright... This is dumb. You could just get a phone with your carrier at that point and it will be yours at the end, for the same price/cheaper over 3 years.

This thing is only good if you want to try out the phone for 3 months.

[darknessblade]

Even on Paper without reading trough the fine-print it already sounds like a bunch of BULLCRAP. its a cheap outdated phone for a overpriced subscription. 

 

Is fairphone desperate for cash or something, as you aren't even allowed to keep your device after the subscription is over.

not forgetting if you read trough the fine-print, there is also a Damage fee that can get as high as 150 euro [if the device is stolen]

And a 90 euro security deposit.

 

So if you have a 1 year subscription which is the minimum term, which cost 29 euro per month that comes out to a total 348 euro, and if the device gets stolen just before the subscription is over, that is a total cost of 348+150+90 euro {security deposit} which comes out to a total of: 588 Euro.

 

Even Pay to own, with your mobile subscription fee's are not that high. and you get a much better Phone for the same price per month.

[Arika]

Well now I know why they are called fairphone, not fairprice.

 

This is stupid

[ebprince the computer nerd]

UPDATE: @HenrySalaynetold me that the price falls every year. 21€ drops to 19€ after the first year, 17€ after the second year, and €13 after the third year. Still a dumb idea, but at least it’s “cheaper.”

Edited June 18, 2022 by ebprince the computer nerd

[DildorTheDecent]

3 hours ago, darknessblade said:

as you aren't even allowed to keep your device after the subscription is over.

You will own nothing and you will be happy.

[Poinkachu]

1 hour ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

UPDATE: @HenrySalaynetold me that the price falls every year. 21€ drops to 19€ after the first year, 17€ after the second year, and €13 after the third year. Still a dumb idea, but at least it’s “cheaper.”

Uh, I dunno, based on a glance on their blog post.
That discount only applies if you keep the phone from damage.
Extent of damage counted isn't specified.
The whole no-damage = discount system thing also not specified.
Like, if you end up damaging it on first year will you still be available for the discount next year (if you don't damage it further)
etc.
How the heck they're gonna check it anyway, like do we need to send the phone back to them every year for damage assesment or something. If so, that sounds annoying & troublesome as heck.

https://www.fairphone.com/en/2022/06/15/fairphone-easy-a-smartphone-subscription-for-a-fairer-future/

 

Also.... maintenance? uh........ Like.... cleaning the phone ?
Upgrades? wut? like firmware upgrade?  If it is then I'm pretty sure android itself will shove the button onto our face.

I never had to worry about replacing my phone...., what I always had to worry about is whether or not there's a phone that suits my pickyness out there when I need one.

 

[HenrySalayne]

4 hours ago, darknessblade said:

its a cheap outdated phone for a overpriced subscription. 

If you read about the hoops they had to jump through to make this phone possible, you would understand why this phone is not the latest and greatest for many reasons.

4 hours ago, darknessblade said:

Is fairphone desperate for cash or something, as you aren't even allowed to keep your device after the subscription is over.

They don't want it to end up in a drawer. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Returned phones are either refurbished or get recycled. It's only logical.

And we don't know if costumers might be able to upgrade to the newest model once support for their current model ends.

[Poinkachu]

10 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

They don't want it to end up in a drawer. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Returned phones are either refurbished or get recycled. It's only logical.

And we don't know if costumers might be able to upgrade to the newest model once support for their current model ends.

Idk man, I think a good simple trade-in program will suffice as well to prevent the old phone into collecting dust in drawer.
Or just offer them a small gift vouchers for returning the phone for recycling, if they decide to switch brand afterall.

[HenrySalayne]

1 hour ago, Poinkachu said:

Idk man, I think a good simple trade-in program will suffice as well to prevent the old phone into collecting dust in drawer.
Or just offer them a small gift vouchers for returning the phone for recycling, if they decide to switch brand afterall.

Good point. We just don't know the full picture yet.

 

Here is the original article from the Fairphone page which answers a lot of the questions:

https://www.fairphone.com/en/2022/06/15/fairphone-easy-a-smartphone-subscription-for-a-fairer-future/

 

[Ydfhlx]

They literally became the thing they swore to destroy.

[Brooksie359]

On 6/18/2022 at 9:49 AM, TetraSky said:

Usually, leases are not more expensive than buying it outright... This is dumb. You could just get a phone with your carrier at that point and it will be yours at the end, for the same price/cheaper over 3 years.

This thing is only good if you want to try out the phone for 3 months.

Yeah you can easily get a monthly payment plan to own a similar priced phone for the price they are asking for. 

[wamred]

On 6/18/2022 at 3:30 AM, RONOTHAN## said:

So Fairphone is selling a phone without all the selling points of a Fairphone? This makes basically no sense. It's a phone that's designed to be able to be fixed and kept around for 5+ years, if you're gonna lease a phone for ~2 years, who really cares if it gets broken? It's not like you were gonna keep it around for that much longer anyway. And if you're gonna lease a phone, you can get something a bit higher end like a Pixel 6 or Galaxy S22 for about the same price per month instead. 

 

This seems like a program that will go the way of the dodo after about a year. It just makes no sense.

My thoughts exactly. Phones are getting more expensive but I still don't see the point in a subscription model.